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Transcript

UN lashes back after Australia's criticism

AM Archive - Friday, 31 March , 2000 00:00:00

Reporter: Agnes Cusack

PETER CAVE: This is AM. I'm Peter Cave. Good morning.

The United Nations has drawn a parallel between the attitudes of Canberra and P'yongyang, the capital of North Korea. It believes the cause of international human rights may be harmed by Australia's harsh criticism of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Australia's implied threat to wind back its commitment to international human rights standards.

As Agnes Cusack reports, the UN says that while a member nation has the right to complain about a committee, Australia also has an obligation to take suggestions by that committee seriously.

AGNES CUSACK: The United Nations says it's received no notification that Australia intends to withdraw from the convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, but says the wording of statements coming from Canberra could be interpreted to mean Australia is considering its obligations under UN treaties. Canberra, in blunt terms, appears to be questioning the competence of the UN committee formed to monitor the convention on racial discrimination.

Dr Polita Cohona is the chief of the treaty section of the UN.

Were you surprised when you read the statement from the Australian Government?

POLITA COHONA: It is a strong statement.

AGNES CUSACK: Is it something it something that you've encountered before?

POLITA COHONA: Certainly not in my experience - no.

AGNES CUSACK: Dr Cohona was with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra before moving to the UN five years ago. The UN says North Korea is the only other country that's reacted to a committee report in a similar way to Australia. But North Korea has since had a change of heart and agreed to cooperate with UN committees. Many of the 188 member nations of the UN have come under fire for human rights abuses. The United States has been criticised for the large number of blacks in American jails.

When contacted today, the US State Department said it may disagree with UN findings at times, but it respects and does not dispute the process.

The United Nations is concerned Australia is sending the wrong political message to the world community which is trying to strengthen the human rights process. Dr Cohona says the UN is acting on behalf of the international community.

POLITA COHONA: It is important to remember that criticism is not levelled for the sole purpose of criticising a country. The criticism is levelled for the purpose of improving in this case the human rights framework that is applicable to all countries in the world, and the ultimate loser would be the international human rights framework if a country were not to take such criticisms seriously.

AGNES CUSACK: The UN says every country has the right to criticise the committee, but says Australia also has a duty under UN conventions to take on board the suggestions of the committee.

POLITA COHONA: Ideally I would like to see the criticism being taken seriously and measures taken domestically to rectify the wrong that the committee may have pointed out. In this case I have not gone into the detail so I'm not in a position to comment on it, but there have been situations in the past when countries have been criticised, not only in this context but in the resulting committees, and the expectation of the United Nations and the international community is that when there are sincere comments made, sincere criticisms made, that these would be taken seriously and necessary action taken domestically.

AGNES CUSACK: The United Nations warns if Australia doesn't attempt to address suggestions of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, it'll come in for further criticism.